Photo by frank mckenna
Contemporary Christ artist Phil Wickham was 18 years old when he began his career in 2002. Since then, he released ten albums, including:
- Give You My World (2003)
- Phil Wickham (2006)
- Cannons (2007)
- Heaven & Earth (2009)
- Response (2011)
- The Ascension (2013)
- Children of God (2016)
- Living Hope (2018)
- Christmas (2019)
- Hymn of Heaven (2021)
He received a Dove award in 2019 for Worship Recorded Song of the Year for his song Living Hope.
Also, check out my other Phil Wickham reviews.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Phil-wickham-hymn-of-heaven-lyrics.
Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site! Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.
1. What message does the song communicate?
This song is about believers looking forward to eternal life with God post-death. Death will be abolished. Tears will be wiped away. Pain will cease to exist. We will stand face to face with our Maker, joining the saints and angels in prostration. We will worship Him and sing about how great God is, including Christ’s loving sacrifice that made forgiveness of sins possible.
My only criticism is Verse 2’s opening lines. It’s not true that all prayers and songs are cries to God in despair. Some are offered when we’re at peace, confused, joyful, and angry. I understand that this song came as an outflow of the present COVID crisis and social unrest, and it could be viewed as prayers that were only prayed in desperation, but it could be worded better.
Score: 9/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
Almost all of it aligns with God’s inspired Word, except possibly the first few lines of Verse 2.
[Verse 1]
Lines 1-4: Wickham looks forward to eternal life (Mark 10:29-30, John 3:15-16, John 3:36, John 4:14, John 5:24, John 5:39-40, John 6:27, John 6:40, John 10:28, John 17:3, John 20:31, Romans 5:21, Romans 6:22-23, Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Galatians 6:8, 1 Timothy 1:16, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 2:11, Hebrews 5:9, 1 Peter 5:10, 1 John 2:23-27, 1 John 5:10-13, 1 John 5:20, Jude 1:20-21, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 7:16-17, and Revelation 21:3-4), where there’s no pain and suffering (Revelation 21:4). His entry is based on Christ’s atoning work (Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, John 19:30, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9).
[Chorus]
Line 1: Wickham proclaims that in the future, all humanity will bend the knee to Jesus (Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:10-11).
Line 2: Death will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14).
Line 3: The first part is possibly a reference to 1 Corinthians 13:12. The second references Christ’s death (see Verse 1, line 3) and resurrection (Matthew 28:1-20, Mark 16:1-20, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-29, Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).
Line 4: Christ is holy (Mark 1:24, Luke 4:34, Acts 3:14, Acts 4:27-30, 1 John 2:20, Hebrews 7:26, and Revelation 4:8).
[Verse 2]
Line 1: Perhaps I’m taking this too literally, but not all prayers are out of desperation. For example, consider the prayers of Hannah of thanksgiving (1 Samuel 2:1-10), Solomon’s prayer for wisdom (1 Kings 3:7-9), and John’s prayer of good health (3 John 1:2). None of these were offered in anguish. Is there some prayer offered in pain? Sure! Many of the Psalms contain prayers amid suffering (Psalm 22 is a prominent example). But, all of them? Certainly not.
On the other hand, it could be interpreted as “every prayer [that] we prayed in desperation”, which would be fine. It doesn’t seem clear to me which interpretation is correct.
Line 2: Again, I don’t think all of us sing through “doubt and fear”. Hannah’s prayer happens to be a song. Women sing about David in 1 Samuel 18:7. Mary wasn’t doubting and fearful when she sang about Jesus in Luke 1:46-48. However, as stated in line 1, if interpreted with the invisible “that” thrown in, then it would be fine Biblically.
Lines 3 and 4: We all must choose if eternal life is worth the cost (Luke 14:25-33). Christians believe He is. God removes our tears (Isaiah 25:8, Revelation 7:17, and Revelation 21:4).
[Verse 3]
Lines 1-4: Although it’s not specific, it’s also not inconceivable that the Old Testament heroes will join us when we say, “worthy is the Lamb that was slain” (Revelation 5:11-12). Maybe we’ll sing it too!
Lines 5-8: Repeat lines 1-4.
Line 9: God reigns for all eternity (Exodus 15:18, Psalm 10:16, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 145:13, Psalm 146:10, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:3, Daniel 6:26, Micah 4:7, 1 Timothy 6:16, 1 Peter 5:11, and Revelation 11:15).
[Outro]
Lines 1-3: See Verse 3.
Line 4: God is holy (Leviticus 11:44-45, Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:7,1 Peter 1:15-16, and Revelation 4:8).
Lines 5-10: Repeats lines 1-4.
Score: 9/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers should easily interpret similarly to my conclusion in section 1, with Wickham opting for everyday language and few Christianese terminology. This song speaks of bleeding to save, God’s holiness, the word “Lord”, and One who died and rose again. These point outsiders towards a Christian worldview.
I’m not sure if unbelievers will pick up on Verse 2’s possible errors, but I doubt that it will affect their overall interpretation.
Score: 9/10
4. What does this song glorify?
While it glorifies God that we remember and celebrate His sacrifice, bowing down and praising Him alongside our brethren, these lyrics contain a few poorly-worded statements that have the air of untruth, veiling it slightly.
Score: 9/10
Closing Comments
Phil Wickham’s Hymn of Heaven is decent. It focuses on life after we physically die, where we join in unison with brethren and angelic beings, prostrating before the King of kings and proclaiming His value and worth. We will show gratitude for Christ’s sacrifice. Tears, pain, and death will be no more. This song contains a few potential misstatements about all prayers in desperation and songs amid doubt and fear. Still, it glorifies God overall. Unbelievers should easily comprehend this song, though I am uncertain how the aforementioned issues will affect them.
It’s hard to recommend a song that contains potential errors; However, if you disagree with me or are willing to overlook them, feel free to sing it for corporate worship.
Final Score: 9/10
Artist Info
Track: Hymn of Heaven (listen to the song)
Artist: Phil Wickham
Album: Hymn of Heaven
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2021
Duration: 4:28
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Updates:
11/02/2021 – After conversing with several users about all prayers prayed in desperation, I decided to temper the language to say potentially, Wickham says all prayers are prayed in desperation. I also increased the song’s overall score, from 8/10 to 9/10.
Comments
Nathan
This has possibly been my most listened to song of all of 2021. I love the hope it brings, the focus on God’s holiness, and Phil’s call on believers to “shout the hymn of Heaven” even today in the waiting. Regarding the line in verse 2 that you say you had trouble with, I think you’re misinterpreting it. I never interpreted that line to say that every prayer I have prayed has been in desperation, but instead to say that for every time that I have prayed in desperation, “in the end, we’ll see that it was worth it…”.
Vince Wright
Nathan,
Thank you for your comments!
It could be that Wickham meant to say what you did, but he could have worded it better. “And every time we prayed in desperation” would be a lot clearer! This would also qualify line 2 and remove my critique.
-Vince Wright
Jordan P.
I’m not sure if your critique makes too much sense to me. I would argue that interpreting verse 2 line 1 and 2 as you have is not a literal interpretation. For example, to take line 1 as meaning “and every prayer, we prayed [them] in desperation” requires inferring [them.] But that creates quite a weird turn of phrase, and I would not expect listeners to infer such a meaning at all. It is not uncommon for songwriters to introduce pauses in the middle of sentences that are not meant to intend any sort of grammatical significance. So, if written, line 1 would be “and every prayer we prayed in desperation.” Which would mean that Wickham is referring to every prayer that is prayed in desperation.
Vince Wright
Jordan,
Thank you for your comments!
This reminds me of an old punctuation joke that my English teacher once told me. She said, “commas save lives. Let’s eat Grandma!” Most of us were confused when we heard this. But then some of us finally got her point. What she meant is that the sentence, written as it is, was intended to mean “Let’s eat, Grandma!”, but without the comma in the sentence, the literal interpretation emerges. However, even if we added a comma and made it “and every prayer, we prayed in desperation”, it still seems more clear to me that Wickham is saying all prayers are prayed in desperation. I agree with you that your interpretation is what Wickham likely intended, but if he wanted to say what you mean, he should have written it “and every prayer that’s prayed in desperation”. That would be much clearer.
-Vince Wright
Danny Zhou
Hi, Vince:
About your comment on the absent comma (“even if we added a comma and made it “and every prayer, we prayed in desperation”, it still seems more clear to me that Wickham is saying all prayers are prayed in desperation.”)… Adding a comma would actually make it literally mean “all prayers we prayed were in desperation.” Omission of the comma (aka, how the lyrics were written) makes the meaning clear which Jordan P. was trying to bring to light.
What really makes the difference here is the phrase “we’ll see that it was worth it,” in the third line of that verse. What was worth it? The answer is the previous two lines. “And every prayer we prayed in desperation, The songs of faith we sang through doubt and fear” The prayers they prayed desperately and the songs of faith they sang ALL BECAME WORTH IT when Jesus came to wipe away their tears. It may make it easier to understand if you leave out the second line so that it reads “And every prayer we prayed in desperation, in the end we’ll see that it was worth it.”
It is then clear that the lyrics mean “Every prayer [that] we prayed in desperation, in the end we’ll see that it was worth it.” Adding in an imaginary “that” is not really extrapolation; it is common for people to leave out “that”s in sentences (“I saw that he went to the store.” or “I saw he went to the store.”)
Possibly, the pause in the music (if you listened to the song) between “every prayer” and “we prayed in desperation” may have made you think there was a comma there. 🙂
Thanks-
Danny Zhou
Vince Wright
Danny Zhou,
Thanks for your explanation!
It still seems to me that it could go either way. Therefore, I’ve changed the review to state potentiality for “all prayers” prayed in desperation and raised its score.
-Vince Wright
Dwayne Martin
When I read the lyrics for the first time, I interpreted them as saying only those prayers prayed in desperation and only those songs sung through doubt and fear, not that all prayers are prayed in desperation nor all songs are sung through doubt and fear. Plus, adding more words messes with the meter of the poetry.
ajderxsen
I’m sorry, but no. Both the grammar of the verse as a whole, and the lack of a comma in that one line, make it abundantly hear that Phil’s only referring to prayers that were, in fact, made out of desperation.
But even /if/ he meant what you’ve suggested – it would be weird, but hardly doctrinally problematic.
So, although you’re well-intentioned, your assertion that “it still seems more clear to me that Wickham is saying all prayers are prayed in desperation” – is tremendously overreaching and hypercritical.
Gabriel
Nathan I came here to write the exact same thing, the second line in the second verse says “The songs of faith…” , obviously there are other christ centered songs that are not just about faith. So if i parallel the style of line two and line one my thought was that it was just those certain prayers of desperation that Phil is referencing. Not sure if that all makes sense.
Karin Hill
I’ve been searching the internet to see if anyone else has a problem with the grammar of this song, specifically “standing face to face with He who died and rose again” instead of saying “Him.” It sounded wrong to me, but my confirmation came when my grammar fanatic 87-year-old mom criticized it. Does this bother no one else? Yes, He rose again, but you wouldn’t say “Standing face to face with He.” The rest of the sentence doesn’t matter, right?
Vince Wright
Karin,
Thank you for your comment! I didn’t question its grammar because I treated “He who died and rose again” as a singular clause. However, I used five different online grammar checkers to confirm or refute your claim. Four of them suggested “the One” instead of “He”. Only one of them suggested “Him”. None of them said it was correct.
I won’t update my review because I don’t penalize songs based on poor grammar that doesn’t affect its meaning.
-Vince Wright
Trish DeSchiffart
I agree; “with HE who died and rose” doesn’t sound right. What about saying “with Christ who died and rose”. ?
Vince Wright
Trish,
Better!
-Vince Wright
Kathryn Filip
I totally agree!! I am introducing this song to my congregation in a couple of weeks and already changed it to ‘Christ who died’!! He who died is so clumsy!! haha
Dan
You are correct in that “with He who died” is incorrect grammar. It should be “with Him who died.”
Allison
I agree. I love the song, but I have to correct the grammar while I sing it.
Michael DeLong
I want to introduce this song to our church, but there is no way I can sing “with He who died,” since it is incorrect. The correct grammar is “with Him who died.” Should we sing it “with Him who died” or “with Christ who died?” Also, is it a copyright violation to change the words of a copyrighted song?
rho
“Hail him who saves you by his grace
And crown him Lord of all”
(All Hail the Power of Jesus Name)
Him is the ‘correct’ English. ‘He’ either reflects the current state of our education system (lack of grammar knowledge) or is an example of how English is evolving.
ajderxsen
🤨 Seriously?
Larry Collins
The object of the preposition is not “he” but Ian rather the whole
phrase “he who died and risen again.” You would not say “him who died and him who rose again” because “who” requires “he” not “him”. If I were to write it like a mat equation it would be “…with (he who died and rose again)” and not “…with him (who died and rose again).”
Ceal
He doesn’t say all prayers are prayed in desperation, he says “every prayer we prayed in desperation” I think we have all prayer a prayer in desperation and we have all sang songs through doubt and fear because we are human. Thank the LORD for hearing these prayers and giving us comfort.
I think his song is 10/10
Michael Ramsey
Verse 2 really should be viewed as a one thought. “Every prayer we prayed in desperation, The songs of faith we sang through doubt and fear. In the end, we’ll see that it was worth it.When He returns to wipe away our tears.” He isn’t saying every prayer was prayed with desperation but that the prayer the are prayed in desperation are worth while.
Tim Goodson
I very much enjoy reading your reviews and critiques. I generally agree with your findings. However, I have to agree with others who have pointed out that the 2nd verse should be taken as a whole. Not only does that make the most sense, Phil Wickham seems to have enough Biblical knowledge to not promote the idea that every, single prayer we pray must be in desperation. I really think he was trying to say that all of our prayers that WERE in desperation (and even the circumstances that caused the desperation) would all be worth it in the end – much like Paul says he has no regret in his sufferings as he looks forward to the prize before him. Keep up the reviews. Again, I really enjoy them! I look to this source first when I’m torn over a lyric. You’re doing a great thing here.
George E Darling
I am glad you at least changed this powerful song to a 9. When I first heard it, I absolutely took verse two as “when those times we were praying in desperation.” I guess because I had personally experienced the mountains and valleys . . . and had already prayed both ways.
I led this congregationally last week for the first time, and one of our Elders came up to me and asked me to put this song in our regular rotation.
I know of no more powerful song referring to that scene since the hymn “On Zion’s Glorious Summit.”